Paul Appeals to Caesar
1 Now three days after Festus had arrived in
1the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea.
2
And the chief priests and the principal men of the Jews
2laid out their case against Paul, and they urged him,
3
asking as a favor against Paul that he summon him to Jerusalem--because
3they were planning an ambush to kill him on the way.
4
Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea and that he himself intended to go there shortly.
5
"So," said he, "let the men of authority among you go down with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, let them bring charges against him."
6
After he stayed among them not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea. And the next day he took his seat on
4the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought.
7
When he had arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many and serious charges against him
5that they could not prove.
8
Paul argued in his defense, "Neither
6against
7the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor
8against Caesar have I committed any offense."
9
But Festus,
9wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, "Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and there be tried on these charges before me?"
10
But Paul said, "I am standing before Caesar's
10tribunal, where I ought to be tried. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you yourself know very well.
11
If then I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death. But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can give me up to them.
11I appeal to Caesar."